You see those people who say they’ve been in business for 7 years and you get intimidated because you just started 2 months ago? Those people were once like you.

I read lots of biographies and watch lots of biopics as well. For one, it helps me see what the subject went through.

I remember reading Phil Knight’s Biography, Shoe Dog. He was a regular college graduate who wanted to go into business. He wrote about his journey in business and how he started — even going away from home on a quest to find himself. It went further to talk about how he was a salesman for another shoe company before he started Nike.

You’ll see how big Nike currently is, and think he was special or something. But the book makes you see that he started as an average person trying to find his feet in the world.

He struggled, had problems with shipping, his manufacturers, the law, son, and more.

But those problems contributed to his story.

One major thing I noticed about that book was that the problems never stopped coming. After every breakthrough, you will see another issue in the following chapter. I appreciate it because it was the plain truth — problems never really go away. You have to battle the one right in front of you and prepare for the next one.

Because happiness comes from solving and scaling through our problems. Not the money or attention in itself, but the joy of overcoming one thing and progressing to another.

Maybe the problem you might be facing is you can’t get any client. And that’s what’s keeping you up at night. But months from now, that might not be the problem, your problem may soon be making out time to handle the clients you have — because new ones keep coming.

It would seem as if you’ve unlocked the key to getting new clients, and now you can’t seem to figure out how to handle all the clients you have without burning out.

Afterward, it might be that you want to increase your prices because you believe you’re now more valuable. But you’re scared because what if you lose the clients you have — this is another thing keeping you up again.

It seems like the problems don’t end because they don’t.

I learned this truth from video games, that as you progress, you’ll face tougher battles and bosses. It’s normal.

And as you advance in different stages in the game, the game awards you more skills to be able to defeat whichever bad guy comes your way.

And that’s how life is.

Photo by Miguel A. Amutio on Unsplash

As we advance, we develop more skills to scale through our obstacles, and that’s the whole point of this — to develop those additional skills.

That’s what differentiates you who just started his career from someone who has been at it for 7 years.

They’ve gained the skills that helped them to scale to new levels. You may see those people and think that they’re living in a world of honey and cream. But that’s a lie. They have bigger and tougher problems. You won’t see it yet because you’ve not gotten close to where they are.

Nobody has it easy. Everyone is trying to figure out how to scale through their present obstacles. Luckily, there are manuals other people have left through their books and guides; you can make things easier for yourself and use them — that’s your cheat sheet.

At the end of your journey, nobody will care about your sleepless nights or frustrations, but the stories you can share.

So, do it for the experience because that’s all that matters in the end.